Friday, December 26, 2008

It started out ok. Rob and I exchanged presents, and later kisses. We both liked what we gave each other. Motria and Lenny watched as the cats played with their new toys too.

One disappointment: my ring from Brighton broke. Oh well, I'd keep it as a momento anyway.

The ride on Wheel Trans was nice. The driver was new, respectful, and cheerful. Wow!

When I got to Mom's place, we sat and ate date squares and shortbread cookies, and chatted. It was lovely.

Things started to fall apart from there...

It all started when Mom asked me if Rob liked one of the presents I bought for him: The E-Cigarette. And, I explained that yes, Rob was happy with it and was dying to try it out, but the plan had always been that I'd get him a few Accupuncture treatments first (like I had done for him before we went to England) to make the cravings go away. After that, he could use the E-Cigarette to help him stay off cigarettes for good because, shaped like actual cigarettes, they would help with the phychological withdrawl of having nothing in his hand all the time.

Well, then, my brother piped up and he said he didn't understand why people had to use tools to quit smoking. He had gone cold-turkey when he quit, why couldn't everyone do the same? I said that I had read somewhere that addiction to cigarettes was worse than Heroin addiction. My big brother ignored that comment and suggested that perhaps Rob (and other people I won't mention) were "inactive" ("staying home, doing nothing") and this was the reason he/they couldn't quit smoking.

This really got me fired up! Rob helps me with my daily needs every day, without hesitation. And, when I had the 24 hour flu on Monday night, he stayed up with me. Inactive, my ass!

And then, I mentoned that I knew a lot of "active" people who had trouble quitting or were still having trouble quitting. And, Mom pointed out that Dad, a very active tennis player quit cigarettes in his 30s and started smoking a pipe right away and, until his dying day, never gave that addiction up.

There's more, but I'm tired. It's 4am.

Just the highlights:

Mom said that I shouldn't pay any attention to my brother. Yeah, right, don't tell him not to start the whole thing in the first place! Thanks, Mom.

To add insult to injury, my mom loudly suggested that perhaps I was in "the change". She didn't understand why I glared at her, but I've been hearing this lame suggestion from her since I was 38!

Oh yeah, and on the way home, the Wheel Trans bus broke down and I had to wait for another one.